Zacharias Janssen 

contributed to cell theory with the invention of the single-lens microscope and that
of multiple lenses (compound microscope) for cell discovery in the future. He was able to develop this
invention due to his knowledge of the family lineage of lens manufacturers.

The invention of the microscope led to the discovery of the cell by Hooke. While looking at cork, Hooke
observed box-shaped structures, which he called “cells” as they reminded him of the cells, or rooms, in
monasteries. This discovery led to the development of the classical cell theory.

He was the first person to examine many cells, including red blood cells. He was also the first person to
see the nucleus of these blood cells. Before him, the notion of cells as the building blocks of living things was
not widely accepted.

In 1838, Matthias Schleiden, a German botanist, concluded that all plant tissues are composed of cells and
that an embryonic plant arose from a single cell. He declared that the cell is the basic building block of all
plant matter. This statement of Schleiden was the first generalizations concerning cells.

The classical cell theory was proposed by Theodor Schwann in 1839. There are three parts to this theory. The
first part states that all organisms are made of cells. The second part states that cells are the basic units of
life.

Virchow's theory stated that just as animals are unable to arise without previously existing animals, cells
are unable to arise without previously existing cells. The idea that new cells arose from pre-existing cells
in both diseased and healthy tissue was not original.